Types of Stereotyping in Advertising

by Chris Joseph, Demand Media

Stereotyping can occur in advertising geared toward children.

children image by Mat Hayward from Fotolia.com

Marketers are constantly seeking ways to make their products more easily identifiable to specific groups of end users. In some cases, they may intentionally or unintentionally use stereotyping to show a product as appealing to their desired target market or in an attempt to interject humor into the ad. Advertising stereotypes are often race- or gender-based in nature.

Child Gender Roles

Stereotyping can occur in advertisements geared toward and containing children. Boys are often portrayed as rough or aggressive, while girls are portrayed as more dainty or feminine. The Socjournal website points out a print advertisement where a boy is standing inside a gray pop-up castle, taking on a posture of power and dominance. A girl is shown cowering in fear outside the castle as if afraid to enter. A pink version of the castle is shown in a corner of the ad, indicating that the gray one is for boys while the pink one is for girls.

Shallow or Incompetent Male

Some advertisements play to the stereotype of young men as shallow and superficial. Beer commercials, for instance, often show males as engaging in sophomoric pranks or actions in an effort to impress women. With married couples in the process of making a household decision, the husband may be portrayed as a somewhat dim individual who means well but is essentially incompetent. The wife, on the other hand, is depicted as the one who is really in control of the situation and knows how to rectify the problem by using the advertised product.

Domesticated Female

Even in a time when many women work outside the home, they are still depicted as being in charge of all the domestic chores in the household. Ads for products like soap, laundry detergent, toilet tissue and child care items depict the women as having the ultimate responsibility for making the buying decisions for these products. Women are also shown as being in charge of food selection and meal preparation in the home.

Racial Stereotypes

Advertising can also perpetuate racial stereotypes that have lasted for generations. As an example, McDonald's came under heavy criticism for creating an advertisement depicting Chinese people who had difficulty pronouncing the letter "r." In England, the Advertising Standards Authority banned an ad showing a black man playing a ukulele and repeating every word a white man says, saying that the ad could be seen as showing blacks as subservient or inferior to whites.

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